CT Construction Digest Tuesday October 6, 2020
Ciara Hooks BERLIN - The town broke ground on another part of the Turnpike Ridge development project Friday morning.
The development consists of The Shoppes at Turnpike Ridge and The Apartments at Turnpike Ridge.
“The goal is to appeal to both millennials as well as empty nesters that live in town,” said Chris Edge, Berlin economic development director. “The best thing about it is we’re going to give young people an opportunity to live in town, test drive the community to eventually have a family and stay here; it’s also an opportunity for our largest employers, Eversource and Comcast, to bring employees in right here in town.”
The Shoppes at Turnpike Ridge, located at 224 and 240 Berlin Turnpike, consists of approximately 35,000 square feet of retail space.
“We have 28,000 square feet of available space in building No. 1 and approximately 18,000 square feet of retail space in building No. 2,” said Helene M. Cavalieri, listing broker for Berkshire Hathaway Home Services New England Properties Wethersfield.
The current tenants in Building 1 are Envy Hair Salon and Spa and The Fresh Monkee. The Boss Grill, Sapphire Nails and Spa, Sudor Thaino Group Fitness and the Pho Bar will be opening up as well.
“We are talking to several tenants for the new building,” Cavalieri said.
Building 2, which will have drive-thru capability, should be completed by spring 2021.
The apartments at Turnpike Ridge, located at 104 Episcopal Road, will consist of 72 modern luxury apartments. Apartments will be open floor plan with two-bedrooms, two baths, a patio or balcony and each will include a one car garage.
“The units are approximately 1,240 square feet, which are about the size of a house,” Cavalieri said.
Pricing for the units have not been determined as of yet, “but the website will be updated periodically as we get closer to construction,” Cavalieri said.
Construction will begin early 2021 and occupancy will begin fall of 2021.
“This is a great development for Berlin. We’ve heard for so many years it has been tough to bring developments to the turnpike and we were able to do it with this parcel here,” said Mark Kaczynski, Berlin mayor.
Both the retail and apartments were developed by John Orsini, the owner and developer.
“He puts in just amazing quality and design,” Cavalieri said.
Orsini was voted Builder of the Year for the town of Berlin in 2019.
“We appreciate Mr. Orsini and him choosing Berlin,” Kaczynski said. “With being able to work with him and come up with a plan like this it’s great; let’s keep rolling. I guess he wants to perhaps keep going right on down the turnpike, he told us, right down to Pep Boys if he can.”
“My parents moved here in 1961, I’ve never seen this level of development in this town and it’s wonderful,” said Tim Grady, Board of Finance in Berlin. “Through everything that’s been happening, the town is still growing.”
Newington closer than ever on National Welding site redevelopment
Sean Teehan When National Welding opened its metal-machining plant on Newington’s Cedar Street in 1941, the 3.9-acre parcel was part of a peaking U.S. steel industry, the power center of which was New England.
Since the town acquired the property through a 2008 municipal tax foreclosure, the empty space is a signal of the end of one era, and the possible dawning of another, as Newington seeks a developer that can leverage the plot’s proximity to the highway, CTfastrak bus system and Central Connecticut State University, said Newington Town Manager Keith Chapman.
However, finding a developer for the property has been a challenge. The site at 690 Cedar St. has stood vacant for nearly three decades, but the town is currently in discussions with developers and could soon announce a deal, said Chapman, who declined to share details about the negotiations.
He did share his views on what kind of developments would best gel with the area — residential, office or mixed-use projects are all strong possibilities.
Meantime, the town council already has the authority to sell the property to an interested developer, which should help speed the process along once a deal is in place.
“All of the planets have lined up for something good to happen that hasn’t happened in many years,” Chapman said. “It’s got a lot of potential.”
It seems a bit unusual that discussions with developers are moving quickly during a pandemic when the property sat vacant for so long, Chapman said. However, brokers say real estate investors are buying up commercial and residential properties as fast as they’re becoming available lately. The dynamic might be one of the small silver linings that accompany the pandemic.
I think this COVID-19 has given [real estate investors] kind of an opportunity,” Chapman said.
Transit-oriented development
The National Welding site is on the far west end of town, located close to CCSU’s Stanley Street campus.
After obtaining the property in 2008, the town later received a $2-million grant from the state Department of Economic and Community Development, (DECD) which it used to demolish vacant buildings and clean up the site to make it marketable.
The town was previously in discussions with an Albany developer about opening a 120-room hotel on the property, but that never materialized. Those discussions occurred in 2018, before Chapman became town manager.
“There are options that could be pursued in that location, which would benefit the town and bring grand list growth,” Chapman said. “Any of those things would be good for the town.”
Newington currently has a mill rate of 39.28 and its 2019-2020 grand list totaled $2.6 billion.
Like towns across the state, Newington has seen retailers and restaurants close amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Pier 1 — currently in bankruptcy — shut down its Newington location, as has the Laser Quest entertainment complex, and a few independent restaurants in town, Chapman said.
The full impact of these closures won’t be clear for another few months, since the town is allowing taxpayers to defer real estate taxes for 90 days, Chapman said.
While the Cedar Street property has remained vacant since National Welding shuttered in 1994, it became more attractive in recent years once the state Department of Transportation built its rapid transit bus system near it. That made the area ripe for transit-oriented development.
An apartment complex, Chapman said, would put residents in walking distance to CTfastrak, which runs between Hartford and New Britain. An office building would bring more people into town each day, and have proximity to the busway, offering a car-free option for employees to get to work. Something in partnership with CCSU could also make sense, Chapman said.
“We feel that we’re close to having some type of an offer made on the property,” Chapman said. “Now it’s a matter of a developer coming in and making an offer for the land, and providing a scope of development that is appealing to the town.”
Net-zero energy schools offer CT a glimpse of future green development
Joe Cooper Spurred by increasing and high utility costs and public support for sustainability, two northeastern Connecticut towns are pursuing the first net-zero energy public school developments in New England
The towns of Manchester and Mansfield are wrapping up design plans for new and renovated net-zero energy elementary schools that will be equipped to generate as much energy as they consume by using roof-mounted solar panels and other technology that lowers energy consumption for lighting, heating and cooling, computers and other equipment.
With 14 months of construction slated to begin on both schools next spring, area designers and environmental consultants say the $50-million Mansfield Elementary School and $24-million remodeled Buckley Elementary School in Manchester will establish new standards for sustainable design in public and commercial developments across the state and region.
“There’s a rising consciousness of net-zero and what it means,” said Ryszard Szczypek, a partner at Hartford architecture firm TSKP Studio, which is spearheading the designs of both net-zero energy schools. “Five years from now, net-zero is going to be the standard language in every [request for proposals]” for public projects.
Net-zero developments still represent a small percentage of public and commercial building construction, but are growing in popularity as the cost of buying renewable energy sources has decreased by more than 80% over the last decade, according to industry experts.
Affordable renewables have made the cost of zero-energy developments on par with, or up 10% more than, a regular build. Long-term energy savings and reimbursements from state governments on public buildings more than offset the added costs, proponents say.
Taxpayers in the Northeast, meanwhile, are looking to combat some of the highest utility rates in the country by funding zero-energy public buildings that also have a smaller impact on global warming.
More green developments would also move Connecticut closer to its goal of reducing carbon emissions in the state by 80% from 2010 to 2050, environmental officials say.
Nationally, there are nearly 700 zero-energy public and commercial developments that are expected to be completed this year, according to the New Buildings Institute (NBI), a not-for-profit organization that promotes and verifies net-zero buildings. That’s up sharply from 60 net-zero developments in 2012, and 332 in 2016, NBI data shows.
Schools are the top non-residential net-zero building, representing over a third of all projects tracked by NBI.
“Everybody is on the bandwagon in one way or another,” Szczypek said. “When you’re adding on some features to improve your energy performance, it’s kind of a no-brainer to add those [renewable] features.”
Gaining momentum
The majority of growth in net-zero energy buildings is in the urban and rural education markets because school systems use them as a learning tool for students and they lower overall operating costs, according to Tony Hans, vice president and national director of sustainable projects for engineering consultancy CMTA Inc.
Hans says his Kentucky-based firm, which is working on the Manchester and Mansfield projects, over the last dozen years has been involved in designing more than 4.6 million square feet of net-zero energy buildings in the U.S.
That includes the first net-zero building in Louisville, Ky., where CMTA designed a $3.5-million, 25,000-square-foot corporate office that included glare reduction and daylight management features and LED lighting systems connected to live dashboard displays that tally daily energy generation.
Most of CMTA’s net-zero work has been in the mid-Atlantic region, but the ultra green model is starting to gain attention in New England and on the west coast, he said.
CMTA is currently eyeing other potential net-zero developments in and around Connecticut, but Hans declined to discuss those projects.
“There’s been eight states where CMTA has done the first zero-energy building or school in the state,” he said. “So often, once that first one is done, and people can go visit, it drives other groups competitively to do the same thing.”
CT projects
Both of the Connecticut net-zero elementary schools will use roof-mounted photovoltaic panels to generate renewable energy, and incorporate geothermal wells on-site that generate and store energy to reduce HVAC demand.
Geothermal wells are often designed to use the earth’s subsurface temperature and a heat exchanger that adds or removes heat from a building.
Project officials say they are also using aggressive conservation measures — including strategic IT design and window placements to maximize daylight — to offset the generation needs of the buildings.
In Manchester, local officials are still finalizing plans for incorporating a net-zero design at the aging Buckley Elementary School. That renovation project is part of a larger $92-million school overhaul plan that voters backed in 2019.
TSKP, which is also contracted to complete a net-zero energy project at Mancheter’s Bowers Elementary School, said the Buckley redevelopment is on pace to break ground sometime in February with an expected completion by summer 2022.
Fifteen miles east in Mansfield, TSKP has designed a 79,000-square-foot school that will include 1,450 photovoltaic cells on its roof and 60 geothermal wells on the property. The 500-foot-deep wells will regulate building temperatures all year, substantially reducing the HVAC burden.
After moving costs and acquiring furniture and equipment, the project is expected to cost $50 million. Construction starting this winter is also expected to conclude the following year.
Transit needs haven’t gone away in 2020
Hearst Connecticut Media Editorial Board There’s a certain four-letter word we haven’t heard in a while in Connecticut.
For a spell in 2019, we seemed to hear it daily — from the governor, from legislators and lobbyists in Hartford and from readers.
“Toll.”
In the political zeitgeist, it has been lapped by “mask,” which will likely hold that spot until “cure” becomes a reality.
The effort to revive tolls on Connecticut roads to fund overdue infrastructure improvements was put on hold just a few weeks before COVID-19 steered attention elsewhere.
What has not gone away is the need. It was there long before 2015, when Gov. Dannel Malloy pitched a 30-year transportation vision with a $100 billion price tag.
One problem with a three-decade concept, of course, is that it lacks a crystal ball to foresee technology trends and a global pandemic that shifted the way people work.
The Statewide Transportation Improvement Program takes on immediate challenges in smaller bites. The draft of the latest STIP identifies priorities for 2021-2024. These are primarily renovations, and are hardly visionary, but the $3.9 billion price tag serves as a reminder that it’s expensive to keep 3.6 million Connecticut residents and millions of out-of-town travelers moving through the state.
We are all used to waiting. But we now seem to be driving in circles in addressing the need that sparked the tolls proposal in the first place.
Middletown leaders hope passage of $55M bond will pave way for big changes downtown
Cassandra Day MIDDLETOWN — Approval of the city’s $55 million referendum question will set the course for myriad riverfront redevelopment projects over the next decade, aimed at creating more parking, new public spaces, and additional housing options near the Connecticut River.
“This bond is specifically oriented toward economic development and growing the tax base beyond where it is today. For that reason, this bond can be thought of more as an investment than simply an expenditure,” Mayor Ben Florsheim said on his Facebook page.
Key elements include the purchase of key riverfront properties, redevelopment of municipal-owned buildings and other infrastructure, as well as a community recreation center incorporating the gym and swimming pool at Woodrow Wilson Middle School once the Beman facility opens there.
About 20 people watched the meeting on Facebook Live and a handful of others took part in the online presentation, even with very short notice, said Florsheim, who was pleased at the turnout for the virtual event, hopefully the first of many on the subject.
Questions from the public mostly involved what the city envisions for the river area, a valuable swath of potential economic construction, officials have said.
“We talked about wanting to make sure that development is taking place only where it makes sense for that to be happening,” the mayor said. “We want to make sure public spaces are a big point of emphasis.”
Middletown is lacking housing — such as apartments or condos — close to the water. “That’s something Middletown needs in certain locations,” such as the empty Jackson Corrugated lot on River Road, which offers an expansive view of the river, he said.
“There are a lot of post-industrial sites in the area, and that’s where it would make sense to do some of the commercial elements of it. It doesn’t make sense to try and remediate it as a recreational area when we have other areas we can focus on,” the mayor said.
One of the considerations will be not creating a neighborhood that’s cut off from the rest of the city, causing it to become exclusive.
The now-demolished Arcade parking garage on Court Street, knocked down in March 2018, and City Hall, at 245 deKoven Drive, also are being looked at for potential development, which would add significant revenue to the tax base.
The mostly empty Citizens Bank building at 237 Main St. is being considered for the town hall building a couple of years down the road because the current municipal office has outgrown its space, Florsheim said. The bank lot’s footprint is 18,474 square feet, twice the size of the current one.
Two proposals already have been submitted to the city. “They recognize that is where the growth is happening right now and that’s where the value add is. Residential is the core, but there are also elements of public space and retail or commercial components,” the mayor said.
In the future, local officials may seek anchor tenants near the river, he said. Middletown is considered a food desert, for its lack of access to fresh, healthful food and limited grocery stores, one of the elements of Florsheim’s election campaign.
The creation of additional parking structures and fostering of economic development will have to be proportional, however. “You have to do that being mindful of the lessons of the past when it comes to overdoing it on parking, and developing downtown around cars rather than around people,” Florsheim said.
“Pedestrian and cycling access is a big part of the equation,” he said. “We want to build a downtown that works well for intermodal transportation, and in the sense that people have a good sense of where to go to park and where you walk from there to get to destinations X, Y and Z.”
Another suggestion is for the creation of a music venue. When the mayor asked for ideas from residents on Facebook, “that was the one that got the most love.”
It will be a delicate balance making sure over development doesn’t cause more congestion downtown.
“We would want to tailor it to the community needs — we don’t need to be something that we’re not. We have a lot of potential as it is,” Florsheim said.
To read the bond ordinance, visit middletownct.gov. For full details of the 21st Century Infrastructure Development Bond, go to bit.ly/2Sieddn. To view the presentation, visit bit.ly/33naOjC.
Talks about future of ailing Stamford school buildings to resume
Ignacio Laguarda STAMFORD — Before the outbreak of COVID-19, the big story in Stamford schools was how the district was going to pay for the demolition and reconstruction of five buildings.
School officials had identified five schools — Toquam Magnet Elementary School, Hart Elementary School, Roxbury Elementary School, Cloonan Middle School and Westhill High School — to be demolished and rebuilt.
To do that amount of work in a timely and affordable manner, the city hatched a plan to turn ownership and maintenance of the buildings over to private developers. But the Board of Representatives voted the plan down.
Officials were headed back to the drawing board to come up with a new plan, when suddenly a whole new challenge appeared and thoughts of new schools took a backseat to more pressing matters.
Seven months later, as schools have reopened and the city cautiously steps back toward normalcy, a new committee has been formed to assess school buildings and create a plan to fix deficiencies.
“Had it not been for COVID, I think we would have been farther down the path,” Board President Andy George said this week.
The scope of what the committee will produce is not yet clear. But needs are large.
Superintendent Tamu Lucero has said, based on previous school construction projects, it could cost the city $500 million to rebuild the five schools on its dime, and the process could take 25 years if the rebuilding were not done concurrently.
Many parents say there is no time to wait to fix what’s wrong with city school buildings. They want action now.
Westhill High School mom Liz Levy is one of them. She is behind a change.org petition calling for better ventilation and air quality inside Stamford schools that has so far received about 450 signatures. Levy met with Lucero on Thursday and said she wants to see a plan put together soon.
For her, any plan that does not include removing children from the Westhill building won’t be sufficient.
“I want a real viable game plan that shows research, that has consulted experts and consulted the actual school communities,” she said.
Westhill is one of many schools in the district where mold has been discovered. The building also suffers from ventilation issues, in part due to a 1960s-era cooling system.
Westhill was placed on warning by the state’s Committee on Public Secondary Schools in late 2018 due to $150 million in deferred maintenance. It was also recommended for a mold and moisture assessment back in 2009.
“What bothers me is the health and safety and the consideration for our children,” Levy said.
The new 25-member group assessing school buildings, dubbed the Long-Term School Facilities Committee, includes Lucero; Mayor David Martin; City Engineer Lou Casolo; and Board of Education members George, Nicola Tarzia, Mike Altamura, Jennienne Burke and Fritz Chery; as well as members of the Board of Representatives, Board of Finance, Planning Board and wider community.
The chair of the committee is Cindy Grafstein, who also serves on the Stamford Asset Management Group, which oversees school facilities. The first meeting is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 12 at 6 p.m.
Grace Green, a parent and a member of the committee, said she moved to her home in Stamford in large part to send her two children to Toquam Elementary, which she can walk to.
But with little activity so far related to the plan to replace the building, she is weighing other options.
Her son, the oldest of her two children, goes to Catholic preschool in the area and is eligible to go to kindergarten next year.
“If they don’t fix the mold, I’m keeping him at Catholic school,” Green said.
Toquam has had multiple issues related to mold. In February, teachers from the school took over the public comment portion of a Board of Education meeting to voice their concerns, including that many claimed medical conditions were caused or worsened by the mold in the building.
“It left a really bad taste in our mouths,” said Kate LaVigne, a parent of a second-grade student at the school.
The stories from the teachers were eye-opening, she said.
The following month, the district gave a presentation to parents, which LaVigne attended. Officials said the building was safe for students and staff.
A couple of days later, however, black mold was discovered in LaVigne’s daughter’s first-grade classroom and the students and teacher were moved to the media center, she said.
“Don’t tell me this is a safe environment for my child to be in and then you’re scrambling to move this classroom into the media center,” she said. “That’s nonsense.”
LaVigne said that although parents were upset about the mold, they felt as though their voices were being heard.
“Then March happened, and now everything has come to a screeching halt,” LaVigne said.
She was also in the meeting with Levy and Lucero on Thursday, and she wants the school district to take action soon.
“The schools needs to be demolished and the kids moved to a temporary space,” she said.
LaVigne is hoping the school district can do something for Toquam like it did for Westover Magnet Elementary School. That school was closed for two years starting in 2018. Students were relocated to available space in an office complex while Westover was gutted. (After a $24 million renovation, Westover reopened this fall. Condensation has remained a problem in the buildings, however, and mold has appeared on some ceiling tiles.)
“I want a clear plan,” LaVigne said. “It is unacceptable to have our children and teachers be exposed to mold.”
The city in the last few years has conducted extensive mold remediation at city schools, though some buildings still have water infiltration problems which can lead to new outbreaks.
The only thing clear at this point seems to be that, whatever plan the new committee formulates, it’s likely to be costly.
Board of Education member Jackie Heftman said finding funding for the replacement of the schools will be key.
“The financial situation of the city is something that is going to play into this,” she said. “We’ve got to look for funding sources to help us.”
Developers to answer how they’d convert Newtown’s old hospital buildings into housing
Rob Ryser NEWTOWN - Voters who will decide on Election Day whether housing should be allowed in two of the largest former hospital buildings on the Fairfield Hills campus can hear next week from the only side yet to weigh in on the controversial subject.
Two prospective developers with ideas to convert the empty red brick hulks into affordable housing will be the featured presenters during a virtual community forum on Monday night.
Rosenthal, who believes affordable housing is the only option developers have left to convert the 1930s hospital buildings into modern use, also understands the option is unpopular with voters who consider the 185-acre Fairfield Hills campus Newtown’s Central Park.
Last year, Rosenthal launched a series of community forums to discuss everything from the vision Newtown had in 2004 when it bought the property off the development market to the demolition costs Newtown faces if it doesn’t allow two of the largest buildings to be converted to housing.
The final forum with prospective developers, which was canceled in the spring because of coronavirus-related restrictions on crowd sizes, is meant to give Newtowners an idea of “who’s kicking the tires.”
“I don’t shy away from saying I think this is an important thing for our community to consider,” Rosenthal said on Thursday. “The developers will each get a certain amount of time to make their presentations, which will be live-streamed and recorded.”
The scheduling of the final forum about housing at Fairfield Hills comes 32 days before voters go to the polls to chose between Donald Trump and Joe Biden - a turnout that Rosenthal expects will be 85 or 90 percent of registered voters in Newtown.
As such, he says, the referendum about whether to permit housing as part of a commercial redevelopment in no more than two of the former hospital buildings should decide the question for the foreseeable future.
Rosenthal noted that should the referendum pass, there would still be a two-part public process before a specific housing proposal could be considered.
The housing question is part of a long-term plan to transform Fairfield Hills into the civic and cultural center of Newtown.
To date, Newtown has spent $38 million on Fairfield Hills, a figure that includes the demolition of abandoned buildings and the construction of new buildings, including the Newtown Municipal Center, and the newly opened Newtown Community Center.
The town stands to spend another $25 million in future demolition costs if nothing is done with the 500,000-square-feet of abandoned buildings, Rosenthal said.
The community forum with developers is planned for 7 p.m. Monday at www.facebook.com/TheNewtownBee/
A video of the forum will be posted to www.newtown-ct.gov/board-selectmen/pages/fairfield-hills-forums
Trumbull mall apartment plan moves ahead
Donald Eng TRUMBULL — The Planning & Zoning Commission has cleared the way for a 260-unit apartment complex on lower Main Street, approving plans for the site by a 3-2 vote.
The three commissioners voting in favor, Chairman Fred Garrity, Tony Silber and Tony D’Aquila, agreed with town staff that the proposal met the requirements established in 2018 and helped secure the future of the town’s largest taxpayer. Commissioners Larry LaConte and Anthony Chory voted against the project during Thursday’s meeting.
“Whether the project should or should not be allowed was decided almost two years ago when the language was passed that allowed it,” Garrity said at the beginning of the commission’s 45-minute deliberations. “We are here to measure the application against the regulations as they currently exist in this town.”
The proposed complex, named The Residences at Main, is for a mix of one- and two-bedroom market rate apartments and will include amenities like a pool, gym and clubhouse. They are expected to draw high-income younger professionals and empty-nesters looking to remain in the area while downsizing from their single-family homes. The developers have referred to their potential tenants as “renters of choice.”
The commission’s approval was contingent on 11 conditions, including the extension of pedestrian walkways from the LA Fitness to the main entrance road, allowing school buses and senior shuttles to enter the complex, installing 24-hour call boxes at the entrance gates and mandatory pre-construction meetings with town planners and engineers to finalize details.
“You have the final say,” Garrity told Town Planner Rob Librandi.
During the commission’s deliberations, Chory reiterated his concern from previous meetings about school buses stopping on Main Street to pick up and drop off students who live in the complex.
“If the number of students boarding is large, that can stop traffic for an extended time,” he said.
Chory also expressed his dissatisfaction with efforts to blend the complex into the surrounding area, calling it “totally out of character with Main Street.”
D’Aquila, who had initially shared Chory’s view on buses, said the developer’s agreement to allow bus entry onto the property had satisfied him.
“I am now convinced,” he said. “I no longer have those concerns.”
Silber also had some lingering concerns, specifically the lack of long-range planning in the proposal.
“As the Planning and Zoning Commission, that makes you uncomfortable,” he said emphasizing the word “planning.”
He also agreed with Garrity that the projected $900,000 net increase in property tax revenue from the development was likely optimistic, but the final total would still be a net positive.
Developers, after meeting with emergency responders, said there would be no increased expenses as a result of the project since police already patrol the area and the volunteer fire companies already owned the equipment needed to respond to the complex.
Garrity said he was dubious of the zero cost claim.
“It’s very simple. There are X number of people, there are X number of calls,” he said. “You’re (adding) the apartment complex, so you’re increasing the population. That’s just simple math.”
On the other hand, the plans meet the 2018 regulation for a mixed-use design district, Silber said.
“We kind of have to proceed with that in mind,” he said.
The proposal increases Trumbull’s housing diversity, and its location between the mall and the Merritt Parkway ensured minimal impact, he said.
“The location can’t be better,” Silber said. “It’s right on the parkway. It really doesn’t disturb our interior neighborhoods at all.”
Garrity agreed with many of the concerns, but like Silber, thought the benefits outweighed the drawbacks.
“I haven’t seen a perfect plan in all the years we’ve been here,” he said.
He said he was pleased that a longstanding concern of his, the narrow two-lane left turn from the Ring Road to the main entrance road, was finally being addressed.
“After many, many years of being on the Zoning Board of Appeals and now Planning and Zoning, trying to get the esplanade at the bottom shortened so it widens the two-lane turn from the Ring Road on the way out, it’s finally happening,” he said.
School Construction Bill will fund three New Britain school projects
Catherine Shen NEW BRITAIN – Renovations for three New Britain schools could happen faster as funding through a school construction bill was passed by the state House this week.
“I am pleased the New Britain school district is slated for these funds and I thank my colleagues for recognizing this request,” said state Rep. Bobby Sanchez. “For these projects, the legislation increases the state’s rate of reimbursement to New Britain to 95% of eligible construction costs and greatly reduces any financial burden on the city and taxpayers.”
The allocation for New Britain will cover nearly the entire cost for work at Pulaski and Slade Middle School that both need new roofs, and Chamberlain Elementary School will get some much-needed renovations and upgrades that would cost an estimated $50 million. The new roofs are estimated to cost about $2.5 million for each location.
Renovations for Chamberlain will be similar to the project that Smalley School underwent from 2017 to 2019, where the facility had an almost 80% building makeover through a roughly $40 million project that brought primarily new spaces outdoors for students, including playgrounds, a garden area and outdoor amphitheater. Twenty-two thousand square feet and eight classrooms were also added.
Sanchez, who co-chairs the legislation’s Education Committee, fought to ensure the city’s reimbursement percentage is higher this time around.
“New Britain would always get a reimbursement from the state at about 80%, and because New Britain has such a high property tax rate, a mill rate at 50.5%, I don’t think taxpayers can afford to pay more in bonding because the city would have to bond for their portion and add that to their budget,” he said. “Because of that, I wanted to do more to help because we’re a poor city and our tax rate is high.”
So he asked for 95% of state reimbursements for the three projects in the bill and discussions went back and forth between the committee, other state departments, and Governor Ned Lamont’s Office over the last several months. Now that the bill has passed in both the state House and state Senate, it is just waiting for Lamont’s signature to make everything official.
Once the money is made available, the $50 million Chamberlain project will cost the city $2.5 million rather than $10 million.
“Which is a huge savings,” said Sanchez.
Some of the renovations will include a new family health center, a family resource center, and making the gym and auditorium accessible for community use during non-school hours.
In terms of starting projects amid the covid-19 pandemic, the state representative said several school officials have stated that with a large number of students currently on the remote-learning platform, it would be a good time for construction to happen while the students are not in the buildings.
“If schools shut down and students don’t return this year, some schools have said that they would start construction immediately,” he said. “There are obviously pluses and minuses, but we are just moving forward in the best ways we can.”
New London middle school project gains city land-use approval
Greg Smith New London — The $49.5 million planned renovation of the city’s middle school reached a major milestone this week with site development plan approval from the city’s Planning & Zoning Commission.
Portions of the phased project are expected to go out to bid as early as this month. Plans call for demolition of an older portion of the school that was built in the 1930s and part of the former Chapman Technical High School building.
There will be an addition, renovations to classrooms and reconstruction of an interior courtyard. The school also will add outdoor recreation space, a new entrance and a half-court basketball court on the side of the building facing Lincoln Avenue.
The approved plan is part of an estimated $165 million overhaul of both Bennie Dover Jackson Middle School and New London High School to support the district’s burgeoning magnet school programs. The $108 million renovation of New London High School, while delayed several years, is now underway with an addition under construction. The project, slated for completion in 2023, also now is within budget following work to value engineer the initial project bids.
The plans for Bennie Dover do not presently include demolition and construction of a new Central Office building, which is adjacent to and in some ways physically connected to the middle school.
There had been a recent push to use the $5.5 million in contingency funds from the $55 million approved for the middle school project to replace what has been deemed the outdated and aging Central Office building. The City Council earlier this year amended language to the 2014 ordinance to include the Central Office project. Preliminary cost estimates for the project, however, have exceeded $5.5 million. That has led project architects Perkins Eastman to modify construction plans and detach any shared services between the buildings, such as the information technology hub and fire suppression pump, which are both located in the Central Office building. Fire alarm, electrical and gas services also will need to be separated.
“This approach would result in the Central Office Building being completely de-coupled from the BDJMS facility and allow demolition of ... that structure in the future more easily and cleanly accomplished without the need to modify the BDJMS building,” Perkins Eastman Principal Joseph Costa wrote in a Sept. 11 letter to School Building and Maintenance Committee Chairman John Satti.
The hope among the project team is that bids come back under budget and there is more money to shift to the Central Office building project. The City Council will vote on the additional $65,700 in design costs for the changes at its meeting on Monday.
Developer makes major changes to Windsor’s Great Pond mixed-use project
Joe Cooper As the first phase of Windsor’s sprawling mixed-use Great Pond development nears completion this fall, developers are eyeing some major changes to the project in the coming years.
The town’s planning and zoning commission recently approved numerous changes to Great Pond’s land development regulations that developers and local economic development officials say will lower residential density, and add mixed housing options and open space at the 670-acre property, among other adjustments.
Linda Costanzo, a senior asset manager for Great Pond’s horizontal developer, Winstanley Enterprises LLC, said changes made to the development blueprint aim to meet both current real estate market conditions and the site’s suburban location amidst a largely industrial/distribution/office area encompassing Day Hill Road and Great Pond Drive.
Revised plans call for less office and research and development space, and the addition of a 200-unit retirement community, 300-room hotel, medical-office space, and a mixed-use village centered around Great Pond and a public park. Winstanley will also dedicate about half of the site to open space.
A greater emphasis on suburban-style housing supports a demand shift that’s been seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, Costanzo said. It also gives Winstanley more flexibility to attract developers to the site, and market certain parcels for sale for future development.
“Post-COVID we are finding people want to be outdoors more,” Costanzo said. “We think Great Pond positions itself to do that with location and ability to provide walking trails for the development.”
Apartments near completion
The changes come as Fairfield residential developer Eastpointe LLC, which is handling the first, $45-million residential buildout at The Preserve at Great Pond, is slated to debut the final two of eight apartment buildings this fall. Roughly 130 of the 182 units, or about 71%, have been leased at the first six apartment buildings, according to Eastpointe co-owner Bill Finger. Construction started there in Nov. 2018.
The final two, 24-unit buildings are expected to debut in the next month or so, he added.
Apartments are being leased quickly, Finger said, as residents have been eager to use many outdoor amenities on-site, including walking trails, a swimming pool, fire pit, bocce court, pizza oven and grilling stations.
Finger said his group fully supports Winstanley’s new ideas for the overall development.
According to revised conceptual plans for Great Pond’s second phase, which have been in the works for more than a decade, Winstanley is still planning to build another 1,000-plus living units in the coming years. But recent changes will allow it to develop a greater variety of either townhome or single-family units as opposed to just apartment buildings.
New plans also call for double the amount of retail space, from 40,000 square feet to 84,000 square feet, and a major reduction in space for office, lodging, community and research and development companies that are being lured to the property. The targeted amount of industrial/warehouse space has increased from 1 million square feet to about 1.4 million square feet.
Other changes include conserving more open space (330 acres in total) and building an observation tower in the more than four miles of walking trails.
Changes to original approvals that date back to 2006 will reduce daily traffic at the property by about 60%, according to data provided by Winstanley.
Costanzo declined to comment on how much Winstanley plans to invest in future developments, which she says will take several years to be completed.
“At the end of the day, our vision for Great Pond is that we want to create a vibrant, walkable, mixed-use village center, where Great Pond is the central anchor working off the theme of outdoor activities,” Costanzo said.
The new plans for Great Pond are drastically different compared to what was originally envisioned. In 2012, developers wanted to build more than 4,000 single-family homes, 85,000 square feet of retail space and some 640,000 square feet of office space.
However, several developers that tried to takeover the site over the years were unable to pull together enough financing for development, town officials have said.
With recent approval from the town, Winstanley is hoping to collaborate with an “array” of developers interested in its latest Great Pond vision.
“This is a phenomenal opportunity for the town,” Constanzo said.
Bradley Airport’s $210M ground transportation center faces financial roadblocks
Sean Teehan It was just over a year ago that Bradley International Airport officials began construction on a $210-million ground transportation center that will eventually house all rental car companies at the airport — eliminating the need for shuttle service to off-site locations.
During the July 2019 groundbreaking ceremony, Gov. Ned Lamont gushed at Bradley’s “rapidly rising popularity and ridership,” and the importance of the new transportation center as a convenience for travelers.
“More and more people throughout New England are recognizing the multiple benefits this airport provides,” he said at the time.
Oh, how the world has changed since then. As a result of COVID-19, Bradley Airport’s passenger traffic is down about 60% from last year, travel to international and domestic destinations is restricted or limited, and car rental companies dependent on airline passengers are hurting, with industry behemoth Hertz filing for bankruptcy in May.
Normally, such economic conditions might put a major development like the ground transportation center on hold. That’s not happening.
Instead, the Connecticut Airport Authority (CAA) is moving ahead with the project — scheduled to be completed in 2022 — because it has no choice. The lion’s share of the approximately $151 million to fund the ground transportation facility is already bonded out, and the airport’s debt repayment plan hinges on fees it will charge rental car companies.
The situation has created an uneasy dynamic, with a black swan possibility of all eight rental car companies operating at Bradley eventually leaving the airport amid the toughest economic conditions the airline industry has ever faced.
That’s extremely unlikely to happen, according to CAA Executive Director Kevin Dillon, but the current conditions are a major challenge. However, he and other industry experts say airlines and rental car companies will eventually see a return of customer traffic, averting a scenario that shatters the ground transportation center’s intended funding mechanism.
In the meantime, the CAA, which oversees Bradley, is working with rental car companies to lower fees they pay to the airport.
“When we do get back to those pre-pandemic levels [of business], and then resume our growth beyond pre-pandemic levels, this facility is going to be very, very important for our future,” Dillon said. “It’s still a vital project.”
Less traffic, fewer rentals
The years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic were good ones for Bradley, with the airport growing passenger traffic for seven consecutive years before March’s air-travel armageddon. Amid consistent growth at Connecticut’s largest airport, the CAA embarked on the ground transportation project to eliminate the need for shuttle service to car rental locations, and add parking spaces. The facility will also be accessible by bus, and could eventually add a rail connection, Dillon said.
The CAA last year issued two separate bonds to fund construction of the facility — one for $35.4 million that matures in 2049 and another for $115.7 million scheduled to be fully paid off by 2045.
CAA is currently only required to make interest payments on the debt service. It’s total annual debt payments — including principal — reach a peak of $9.6 million starting in 2023. That will be paid off through customer facility charges CAA levies on car rental companies, Dillon said. Bradley currently charges $8.40 per car rental per day (so if 10 people rented cars for two days, the fees would add up to $168).
In fiscal 2019, car rental companies at Bradley Airport — including Avis, Budget, Hertz, Enterprise, Alamo and others — recorded 1.5 million rental car transactions, which generated $11.6 million in customer facility charge revenue for the CAA.
“This financial plan was put together on the basis that customer facility charges would satisfy the debt service,” said Dillon.
Bradley’s car rental fee revenue has more than doubled since 2015, but will take a major hit this year with the precipitous decline in passenger traffic.
Through July, Bradley recorded 1.6 million passenger rides so far in 2020 (including deplanements and enplanements), down nearly 60% from a year ago.
At the same time, car rental company revenues have dropped by about half since March, said Chris Brown, executive editor of California-based trade publication Auto Rental News.
“Revenues and bookings had dropped off a cliff,” Brown said. “It really tipped Hertz into bankruptcy, and it has caused fleet sell-offs.”
That dynamic led S&P Global Ratings in late September to downgrade the credit ratings (from A- to BBB) of Bradley Airport’s ground transportation center bonds.
“ … Rental car activity will be severely or materially depressed and unpredictable for 2020 and beyond as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated effects that we believe are outside of management’s control,” S&P Global Ratings credit analyst Ken Biddison said.
In May, Fitch Ratings lowered its outlook for Bradley’s ground transportation project to “negative,” while still affirming its BBB rating.
However, Jeffrey Lack, co-lead of Fitch’s airport sector, said the fact that the project is still under construction with debt payments not peaking for a few years, puts Bradley in a better position than if the project was already complete.
“[The project] is benefiting from the fact that it’s in construction right now,” Lack said.
Most of the 12 car rental companies Fitch rates are currently on a negative outlook, Lack said, due to the impacts from the pandemic. Airport rental car companies generally pay fees to their hosts based on the revenue they generate, but contracts typically stipulate a minimum guaranteed payment, Lack said.
“When you have a drop in passenger traffic as significant as we’re experiencing, it impacts you across the board,” Dillon said. “It’s really our passenger volume that drives all of these different revenue sources.”
Long term, Lack predicts car rental companies will pull through, noting that many are run by large corporations that have substantial reserves to get them through prolonged downturns.
Dillon said he isn’t worried about a mass rental-car company exit because the pandemic won’t last forever.
“There will always be a certain amount of rental car business at the airport no matter what happens,” Dillon said.
Kenneth Gosselin HARTFORD — Construction on the long-awaited, $50 million first phase of redevelopment around Dunkin' Donuts Park is now underway, with an official groundbreaking expected in two weeks.
The first phase of “Downtown North” — located just south of the ballpark at Main and Trumbull streets — is the beginning of a four-part, $200 million redevelopment of city-owned land that is seen as critical to reconnecting downtown with the city’s northern neighborhoods.
As many as 1,000 apartments, restaurant and entertainment space and parking garages could replace an expanse of parking lots in the next five years or so.
On Thursday, backhoes dug into the first phase, known as “Parcel C” in front of the former Red Lion Hotel, and payloaders dumped soil into massive piles. In the next 20 months or so, out of the vacant lot will rise buildings with 270 studio, one- and two-bedroom apartments, 11,000 square feet of restaurant, shop and entertainment venue space and a 330-space parking garage.
The pandemic has slowed apartment leasing downtown, but developer Randy Salvatore said Thursday he remains “very bullish” about Hartford’s apartment market as the city emerges from under COVID-19.
Salvatore, founder and chief executive of Stamford-based RMS Cos., said he believes smaller cities such as Hartford could very well benefit from a migration out of larger urban areas such as New York or Boston fueled by the pandemic.
“And our building is not going to be ready for occupancy for another 20 months or so,” Salvatore said. “By that time, a lot of the immediate issues will, I would assume and I don’t think it’s a long stretch, will be gone. We’ll have a vaccine and people will be back to somewhat normal lifestyles.”
Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin said Thursday the Downtown North project is transformative for the city.
“It’s also a significant vote of confidence that even as we battle this pandemic, investors still recognize the tremendous momentum we had coming into this spring and the tremendous potential we have for growth right now,” he said.
Construction is starting more than two years after the city chose RMS as the new developer and in the aftermath of a bruising court battle with the previous developer to regain control of the four city-owned parcels encompassing Downtown North.
The previous developers, Centerplan Construction Co. and DoNo Hartford LLC, continue to pursue an appeal of a jury’s verdict that the city was justified in firing the developers from the ballpark and redevelopment projects.
Bronin said Thursday he sees now as the right time to move ahead on Downtown North.
“The court’s decision was clear and strong and the path is clear, for us, to move forward,” Bronin said. “We knew from the day that we fired Centerplan that Centerplan would do everything they could to disrupt this project.
“We weren’t afraid of them then, we weren’t afraid of the outcome of the litigation and we’re not afraid of them now. We’re not spending a lot of time thinking about them. We’re working side-by-side with a responsible development partner with a strong track record to get this done for the city of Hartford.”
Torrington residents debate $156 million middle/high school project
Lance Reynolds TORRINGTON – Thomas Killackey, a 2015 Torrington High School graduate, said he envisions living permanently in the city he grew up in once he feels there’s a renewed sense of pride in the community.
Approval of the proposed $159.6 million Torrington Middle/High School building project would help rejuvenate the city, making it a place where people would want to move, Killackey said.
He will cast his vote of approval in the Nov. 3 referendum, he said, before he moves back to the New York City area once the COVID-19 pandemic subsides.
“If I could return back to this place, I definitely would,” Killackey said. “If this vote on the school has anything to say about everybody’s mindset on if they’re proud of the place they live, I don’t know if I could come back if it continues in that inward trend.”
The project would bring seventh- and eighth-graders from Torrington Middle School to the new school. The Board of Education also would move its central offices from 355 Migeon Ave. to the new building.
Different entrances, wings and cafeterias would separate middle school pupils from high school students. An auditorium and gymnasium would be shared. Top middle school students would have the opportunity to participate in some high school programs.
If approved, the project would cost $159.6 million and construction would be done by August 2024. An $85 million state reimbursement would lower the city’s cost to $74.6 million. The existing school opened in 1963. Vogel-Wetmore Elementary School served as the previous high school.
If the referendum fails, maintenance and renovation updates would cost $112.2 million. However, the state would pitch in only $33.9 million, raising the city’s cost to $78.3 million, $3.7 million more than a new school.
Opponents of the proposal, though, say there are more options than updating the 57-year-old high school, including building a new high school without a middle-school wing.
JEREMY KINCAID, chairman of Torrington Citizens for Progress, said he believes the project’s vote is coming at the wrong time, with the pandemic creating an unknown future for education.
The school district has used the hybrid learning model since the school year began last month, with students learning in-person twice a week and at home the three other days. A confirmed virus case at THS caused the school to close from Sept. 22 through Wednesday.
“We believe it isn’t progressive to have a referendum on the school bonding project during times of mass unemployment,” Kincaid said. “It seems very ill-timed during a pandemic, with kids not even being at the high school (as often).”
The planning process for the new school began in 2018 when the Board of Education created a secondary ad hoc committee to explore ways to overhaul Torrington High School. In June, the state Department of Education approved the school board’s grant application for the project.
The planning process for the new school began in 2018 when the Board of Education created a secondary ad hoc committee to explore ways to overhaul Torrington High School. In June, the state Department of Education approved the school board’s grant application for the project.
“The problem is this is decades overdue already,” Board of Education Chairwoman Fiona Cappabianca said. “We can’t keep pushing the can down the road. On the other side of the pandemic, I’m not sure what the availability of school construction grants from the state is going to look like in two or three years.”
MAINTAINING THE CURRENT 225,558-square-foot building at 50 Major Besse Drive has been a challenge for the school board because of its tight capital investment budget. This year, the board has a $304,695 capital budget, down $1.2 million from its proposed budget.
The new 268,641-square-foot building would be on the same campus, but only a small portion of the building would overlap the existing one.
New England Association of Schools and Colleges concluded a multiyear study in May on the existing school. It found providing a 21st-century education to students is a challenge for teachers because of the building’s age and infrequent maintenance updates.
Maggie McGillicuddy, who teaches science at THS, said some classrooms get as cold as 53 degrees and as warm as 93 due to “unreliable” heating and cooling systems.
“That’s not the best environment for a kid to be able to give you their best work,” McGillicuddy said. “The building has aged, while everything around us is changing. By building a new school and investing in our kids, that’s absolutely the best way to improve our community.”
An exterior steel-framing system and single-pane windows make it hard for there to be enough insulation throughout the building, said Jennifer Mangiagli of Kaestle Boos Associates, an architectural firm the school board hired in June 2019.
The school district spends $336,000 per year on energy at the existing school. Projected energy costs for the new school are about $210,000.
THE LAST MAJOR RENOVATION at the existing school was in 1999 for $13.4 million. That project brought the school into compliance with state fire and building codes, added a new media center and cafeteria, and upgraded the kitchen and locker rooms.
Sophomore Ashley Petzel said she’s seen mold drop from ceilings in the current building. The ceilings, mechanical systems, walls, floors, doors and roof have lived out their usable lifetimes, architects have stated in past meetings.
Rick Dubois, who has taught physics at THS for 13 years, said lab tables are permanently attached to walls, limiting student collaboration.
“From a psychological perspective, when you come into a building and you can see everything is rundown and at the end of their usable life cycles, it is discouraging,” he said.
Former Board of Education Chairman Kenneth P. Traub said the proposed school would be better served on the grounds of Torrington Middle School – the district’s newest building, which opened in 1994 – because there’s limited traffic flow at THS.
“Basically, the Board of Education is playing developer here,” Traub said. “If they want to develop a new school, they should factor into this cost what the infrastructure repairs are going to be.”
CREATING A SCHOOL conducive to delivering a modern curriculum would help retain students, Superintendent Susan Lubomski said in a Sept. 24 project meeting.
The district this year is spending $2.6 million on student choice, which allows about 275 city children to attend out-of-district schools. That figure is up $200,000 from last year and $800,000 from 2018-19, Lubomski noted. The district’s total enrollment for this school year is 3,935.
“I just think Torrington has a bad reputation,” Petzel said on why she believes her peers leave the district before entering high school. “The new school will help fix that reputation and put a lot more people into the school system.”
The new school would offer communal learning spaces, allowing for more student and teacher collaboration, and more career pathway choices, such as construction technology, engineering and architectural design, Cappabianca said.
A culinary restaurant and kitchen also would be part of the new school, providing an opportunity for students to take a foods course. The restaurant also would be used as a community resource outside of school hours.
“We would be able to provide our students and community with the learning environment, resources and experiences they so deserve,” Principal Robin Ledversis stated in an email.
If the referendum fails, Traub said the best path forward is a building that fits Torrington’s character and is more cost-effective for taxpayers.
“Torrington is a blue-collar town,” he said. “You can’t build the most elaborate white-collar structure. You have to build for what you can afford.”
E-commerce distribution center slated for Waterbury’s East End
Michaek Puffer WATERBURY – A Trumbull-based developer is preparing to build a 90,000-square-foot “e-commerce” distribution center in the city’s East End, promising a big influx of jobs and new tax revenue.
Phil DiGennaro said he has an agreement to buy a property at 3800 East Main St. – just east of Costco near the Cheshire line. He plans to build and lease to a particular “Fortune 500” company, he said.
DiGennaro isn’t ready to disclose the name of the end user. He said the company will control that announcement and its timing.
DiGennaro is, however, working on the creation of a distribution center for Amazon in Danbury.
DiGennaro is renovating a former Scholastic Corp. building in Danbury into a 147,000-square-foot distribution facility for Amazon, according to a release issued by Danbury in June.
“It will really be an economic boon to the city because of the impact we have on businesses within the city,” DiGennaro said of his Waterbury project, noting cars and vans used for operations will fuel up and be serviced locally.
Mayor Neil M. O’Leary said the roughly $25 million building project is expected to result in about 200 new jobs. Projects of this magnitude will help the city during the global economic slump brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.
“We are excited to see the investment in the city,” O’Leary said. “We are excited for the taxpayers because of the grand list growth. We are excited for the employment growth in the city.”
The roughly 18-acre site DiGennaro plans to buy had been earlier targeted for a Walmart supercenter. But that company abandoned its plans for the site. DiGennaro said he hopes to use permit approvals already gained for the earlier concept to fast-track his development.
DiGennaro, operating as FSI Acquisitions, has applied for a change to city zoning language to add “eCommerce Fulfillment and Distribution Centers” as allowable uses in areas zoned for commercial arterial and industrial uses.
The Zoning Commission has scheduled an Oct. 28 hearing on the zoning text amendment.
DiGennaro’s application to Waterbury notes the growth of “e-commerce” facilities while traditional big-box retailers struggle.
The zone text change will help ensure continued development in the city’s commercial arterial zones, according to the application.
This isn’t the first time Waterbury has sought to attract e-commerce related development.
Waterbury and Danbury were among 238 cities and regions that, in 2017, submitted offers to host Amazon’s East Coast headquarters. The city’s admittedly long-shot pitch offered 103 acres in the city center along the Naugatuck River.
The smaller scale e-commerce development on offer now would be in the city’s East End, near its borders with Cheshire and Wolcott.
The East End has seen a great deal of development in the past several years, largely owing to recent improvements to Interstate 84, O’Leary noted Thursday during his monthly radio show on WATR 1320 AM.
“The grand list growth out there since the widening has been amazing,” O’Leary said.
Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, in his city’s June release, said he anticipated at least 400 jobs associated with Amazon’s new Danbury operation.
Amazon has been leading the grown of e-commerce facilities in Connecticut.
In June 2019, Gov. Ned Lamont announced Amazon’s plans to open a facility in North Haven with 1,800 full-time employees. At the time, it was to be the company’s fifth location in the state, joining facilities in Windsor, Wallingford, Bristol and Hartford.
Today the company has three large “fulfillment center” warehouses in Connecticut, located in Windsor, North Haven and Cromwell, according to the company. Fulfillment centers range up in size to 1 million square feet and employ more than 1,000 full-time staff. Salaries start at $15 per hour, along with immediate health insurance and other benefits.
Amazon also has delivery stations in Bristol, Wallingford, Stratford and Trumbull. All but Bristol opened this year, Amazon spokeswoman Emily Hawkins said in email responses to questions. The Danbury center and another in Orange will open this month, she said.
Hawkins would not say if Amazon is seeking another in Waterbury.
“Amazon is a dynamic business and we are constantly exploring new locations,” Hawkins wrote. “We weigh a variety of factors when deciding where to develop future sites to best serve customers, however, we have a policy of not commenting on our future road map and are not yet commenting on any specific operations plans in Connecticut.”
Amazon, on July 30, reported a $5.2 billion profit in the second quarter, doubling performance from a year earlier and hitting a record for the 26-year-old company, according to Reuters.
Amazon has more than 875,000 employees worldwide, including more than 600,000 in the U.S., according to a recent release by the company. It operates out of two headquarters; 18 technical hubs; 150 warehouse and distribution facilities; and more than two dozen retail stores, according to the release.
DiGennaro said he will “absolutely not” seek any sort of tax incentive deal from Waterbury for his e-commerce distribution facility. He said his unnamed client was attracted to the site by its size, location near the interstate and by the demographics in the surrounding seven miles.
“The City of Waterbury has been just fantastic to deal with,” DiGennaro said. “They have been very fair and accommodating, willing to really work with developers and our tenant to make this a win-win for the city and us.”
DiGennaro said his client will make deliveries to clients in a range of up to 10 miles of the facility. He said the client is conscious of traffic impacts and so schedules distributions around peak commuting hours.
“During rush hours we stay off the roads,” DiGennaro said.
DiGennaro said he’s struck a purchase agreement with the property owner, Waterbury Retail Investments, which is conditional on completion of all necessary permitting.
“We would close immediately thereafter,” DiGennaro said.